A MEAVY company is one of 35 small businesses from the South West to receive awards from the Department of Trade and Industry?s Small Business Service.

IQ Optics Limited received its award at a special ceremony at Exeter yesterday (Wednesday).

The awards were made under the Smart Scheme, for companies seeking finance for feasibility and research and development projects.

The £187,000 IQ Optics project attempts to overcome limitations of technology encountered by dispensing opticians in the ?one-hour? optics business.

The award of more than £60,000 will enable a high-precision, computer-controlled machine to be built to make spectacle lenses, without compromising the quality currently only available from large scale manufacturing laboratories.

Geoff Craddock of IQ Optics said: ?There?s no question this award makes the difference in being able to undertake this project or not.?

Mr Craddock said if successful, the machine will enable ?one-hour? opticians to dispense lenses of far better quality than they do currently.

Smart?s programme leader Paul Tiltman said: ?New ideas and innovation are the key to developing new businesses and creating jobs and employment.

?Smart Awards again prove the wealth of talent and expertise we have in the South West,? he said.